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Delmarva buys WJKS

What was the point? Neither one puts a listenable signal into most of Wilmington, or New Castle County. They bought two trees in an empty forest.
 
FredLeonard said:
What was the point? Neither one puts a listenable signal into most of Wilmington, or New Castle County. They bought two trees in an empty forest.
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WJKS does rank somewhat steadily in the lower end of the Wilmington ratings (and higher than WDEL and WILM in the past two books.) While there is bleed in from other urban stations, WJKS does serve a small niche, and with it's relative longevity, shows it has been at least somewhat cash positive.

The AM stick does seem pretty useless, but was part of a package deal.
 
My guess is 1150 WDEL will be simulcast on 101.7. Maybe 101.7's calls will become WDEL-FM. Maybe 1510 WFAI will become the NBC Sport Radio affiliate for the Wilmington market, since CBS Sports Radio, ESPN Radio, and Fox Sports Radio already are being used.

Who knows maybe Delmarva will try to make 1510 an Oldies/Standards station from the bird so little overhead, and shoot for plenty of geezer oriented spots.
 
The other thought is, if Delmarva could get permission to move the tower to their Shipley Rd facility for 101.7 specifically, but also 1510, they'd both have a better signal than they now have. It wasn't that long ago that a former Bridgeton FM moved its tower so it was near Philly, so why not try to do that in Wilmington?

WDEL's Chris Carl reads these posts, so maybe Chris will give us the low down on what Delmarva plans to do, apparently on January 1st, according to the Radio Insight article.
 
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MikefromDelaware said:
The other thought is, if Delmarva could get permission to move the tower to their Shipley Rd facility for 101.7 specifically, but also 1510, they'd both have a better signal than they now have. It wasn't that long ago that a former Bridgeton FM moved its tower so it was near Philly, so why not try to do that in Wilmington?

WDEL's Chris Carl reads these posts, so maybe Chris will give us the low down on what Delmarva plans to do, apparently on January 1st, according to the Radio Insight article.
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Would 101.7 be allowed to move closer to second-adjacent 102.1 in Philly? Or 101.5 in Trenton?
 
MikefromDelaware said:
WDEL's Chris Carl reads these posts, so maybe Chris will give us the low down on what Delmarva plans to do, apparently on January 1st, according to the Radio Insight article.
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I would expect him or anyone from Delmarva to not say a word before any changes are made unless management makes a formal announcement of its own. That's how you stay employed.

Also, keep in mind that moving a signal is a fairly difficult process given minimum spacing rules with adjacent channels.
 
Right. Nobody speaking for the company is going to post anything here - certainly not before it's already public knowledge. About the only time they do post is to respond to criticism.

It wouldn't make much sense to kill the Urban Contemporary format for a weaker - and declining - right-wing talk format. Of course, radio managers have been known to do things that didn't make much sense. Starting up another right-wing talker downstate didn't make any sense either.

Standards on the AM stick: Too little, too late. Maybe if they'd done if 10 years ago when 1290 flipped. Now, the people who want standards have given up on radio - and Gambacorta (who seemed to be their only client) has given up on selling Buicks. Besides, how many people would want to listen to standards in NCC on a POS signal?
 
Another idea for 1510 would be to simply simulcast WXCY, Delmarva's country station. Prior to 1510 WFAI being an Urban Gospel dollar a hollar preacher station, the previous owner had 1510 WJIC as a country station. That would cost no extra cost to Delmarva than the electric bill to run the transmitter, and might be a format that the listeners of South Jersey would enjoy having. My guess is WXCY's signal doesn't go far into Salem County. Maybe even Delmarva would be able to sell some local avails for South Jersey businesses to insert, via a computer, to even make a few bucks.
 
radio wjks to become simulcast of wdel am 1510

It been update. On radioinsght that kiss fm 101.7 will. Be. No more some time next weeks they will. Be filping to a simulcast of the am station. Of am 1510 there call letter will be change to wdel i feel sorry. For all kiss 101.7 listener they will be losing there hip hop and R@b station. I wishe all those staff best of luck moving on to other companies in the broadcast market.
 
Delmarva Broadcasting will start simulcasting all of 1150 AM WDEL's programming [News/Talk/Sports] on 101.7 to make the new WDEL-FM, starting April 2nd. This will include the Phillies and Eagles.

http://www.wdel.com/story.php?id=67157

WDEL's Allan Loudell's blog said, "(To questions raised on radio discussion boards about whether we'd be able to move the tower further north, the answer is no. 101.7 is in a very tight position. For example, New Jersey 101.5 - WKXW - occupies, obviously, 101.5, and a move further north would encroach on that station. Similar constraints exist in other directions. So while it would be nice to move the transmitting tower, for example, further north and west to project a better signal into Cecil County and the area around Kennett Square and Unionville, that's just not technically feasible. On the other hand, as already noted, we'll have a monster signal in the state capital area, plus ever-growing Middletown.)"

http://www.wdel.com/blog-post.php?postid=4236
 
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Don't you find it odd that WDEL has totally dropped the 1150AM from the website? I mean, the 101.7 signal is not that great in Wilmington itself. Wouldnt you pull a WSB (http://www.wsbradio.com/) first? Keep the heritage dial position and add the 101.7. Then, after a while, move the 101.7 to the more prominent position. But to drop 1150AM totally? CrZaY.

(What are they saying on the air?)
 
AMRocks brings up an interesting point, and this is a bit like the WSB situation. So what is it saying when your prominent identifier is 101.7, which has a so-so signal in Wilmington?

I don't know for sure, but it could be saying a number of things like (1) even for a relatively popular station like WDEL, maybe the AM identifier (though not necessarily the 1150 signal itself) is baggage, (2) it might be that more and more listeners are coming from Bear, Newark, Smyrna, Middletown, and other suburban and exurban locations, though far more people continue to live in northern NCC and (3) despite the statement to the contrary, perhaps they are trying to find a way to bring the transmitter closer to Wilmington by downgrading the power, and becoming more directional.
 
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